Parabola
"A hot, orange sun hovering low in a real sky. Tangles of green foliage and the sounds of nature; little tickings and chirpings. Here and there, though, are man-made shapes and shiny surfaces; straight lines and right angles - empty frames." Parabola is the realm of dreams, located beyond mirrors.__forcetoc__ Beyond the Mirrors "Delicate, intricate friezes are still visible on some of the walls. There is a subtle mathematics in the abstract patterns, and a vivid energy in the figures. With one finger you trace the curve of a parabola. Something in the gritty touch of the stone puts you in mind of Fallen London..." Parabola is most commonly accessed via Prisoner's Honey, the preferred drug of the Neath. It can also be accessed via Irem's House of the Amber Sky, a warm, roofless space packed with Irem-roses. Parabola can sometimes be entered by physically ''passing through mirrors as well, though this process can be painful for obvious reasons. Parabola is more than a dream, however, as those who enter it disappear from the physical world for the duration of their stay, and can reappear in other locations. It is possible for one’s body to return before one's mind does, making one seemingly drunk. This is called being '''honeymazed'. Those who enter Parabola are greeted by a vibrant forest under an orange sun, populated by strange and talkative animals. Of note are the cats, who take the form of predatory big cats in Parabola but have the voices of the smaller talking cats back in London. Parabola does have a day and night cycle; we mention this because the Parabolan moon is a cat. "Look, there are patterns there, just like the surface's moon. Only... these don't resemble a man, or anything else so much as a cat, curled up asleep." The common citizen is unlikely to venture far into Parabola before waking up, but certain professionals called Glassmen have ventured far beyond the reaches of the Marches, and have dealings with the entities that lurk beyond the mirrors. Glassmen wear a set of cosmogone spectacles, which is irresistible to the denizens of Parabola. Landmarks *'The Mirror-Marches', which serve as the borderlands of Parabola, often visited by those overcome by nightmares. The Marches are littered with empty mirrors-frames, and travelers can observe visions of the other side. *'The Misermere', a heavily disputed piece of land that has been claimed by almost every one of the Duchess's noble cats . The Rosers also have a stake in this place. *'The Smoking Shore', a great ocean of sulfurous smoke and a haunt of dreaming devils. ""Devils come here on pilgrimage," your panther explains." They say cats fought off a band of heart-takers here. "Here, the Peerage of the Marches cast back the Host of the Heart-Takers. Many were lost, but how we feasted! Our maws ran red; our bellies grew round." Heart-takers, by the way, are a type of semi-sentient ambulatory plant, originating in the Elder Continent and having traveled to London; they are known in London as St John's Lilies. The Fingerkings also occasionally lay eggs here, and no one knows exactly what hatches from them. "The Fingerkings lay their eggs down in the roots when the water's low. Goodness knows what might hatch." *'The Drowned Forest', a jungle under a lake. "The jungle descends into a blue lake. Treetops rise from its waters in leafy islands. Beneath the surface you can see a submerged forest. Slowly stirring leaves. Vines trailing in currents. Tightly-budded flowers, their petals closed around a precious gasp of air." *'The Hanging Mountains', which are violet-sloped "But you have seen ... the violet slopes of the Hanging Mountains." mountains that hang upside down. "To your right, beyond a wriggling river, the Hanging Mountains are pinned to the sky." *'The Waswood', where all things within are gone forever, and all things that are gone forever lie within. The heart of these woods was the birthplace of the Glory, an enormous zee-turtle that roamed the Unterzee before dying near the Gant Pole. Its shell was taken over by crazed monster-hunters, becoming the Chelonate. *'The Castle of Forests', which is filled with briar-cages, made to contain prisoners by the Fingerkings. *'The Menagerie of Roses', where the dreamers never see the tops of the walls. "Here is a glimpse of the Menagerie of Roses, where the dreamers never see the tops of the walls." Apparently, the Roses stopped growing, much to the dreamers' dismay. "A portly man sits weeping in the road. "The Menagerie," he sobs, "the Roses. They can no longer grow."" *'Arbor', the city half in dream. *'The Writhing River', where parabola-flax grows and nightmares spawn. It is full of serpents, and it runs near Hunter's Keep. At the head of the River lie silver-barked trees which excrete shining, useful sap. "Here, in a humid basin, the river crawls from a crack in the stone ... Silver-barked trees grow, weeping gobbets of shining sap. ... You can use that..." *'The Skin of the Sun', Parabola's false, cosmogone sun. It was built by the sisters of the Duchess to house the refugees of the Second City. "The ushabti were built to construct a new home for the Second City, where we could live forever beneath the skin of the sun." *'The Dome of Scales', which was apparently constructed out of the scales of the first Fingerkings. "Conversationally, she informs you that the dome was wrought from the sloughed scales of the first of the Fingerkings. Perhaps she hopes that will put you off." It's in pieces, now. "A vast, broken dome soars over the jungle. Here, a fragment has fallen from the dome and embedded itself in the earth like a monolith." *'The Burbling Spring-tide', a gorgeous garden-spa where couples can enjoy pillows of roses and visions of the night sky. "You help your partner into the steaming spring, then plunge in after them. ... Bushes heavy with thornless roses lean into the water. They act as pillows as you recline. There are images in the rainbowed cliffs - they pass across them like clouds. You point to an expanse flecked with gold; could it be the night sky at day?" *'The Garden Gleam', a garden of glass flowers where gravity is low. The petals ring in a perfect harmony when disturbed. "...you will find the Garden Gleam - a deep, clear pool, surrounded by bushes growing glass chrysanthemums. Each bloom is the size of a cart wheel. You and your partner are lighter here; gravity's grasp on you has weakened. ... The chrysanthemums sway gently, chiming as they touch. The Garden Gleam fills with a crystalline song." The Land That Is-Not "Parabola is the enemy-kingdom. The Judgements determine what is. Parabola's citizens are Is-Not. Sunlight destroys them, starlight corrodes them. Dreams come at night. Dreams thrive in the Neath. The Judgements cannot see—" Parabola is the realm of what Is-Not, far beyond the reach of the Judgements' domain. In fact, according to the Boatman, Parabola is capable of rotting their lights. Also, the entire dream-realm apparently hatched from an egg. "Out there in the night: ... the egg that hatched Parabola." Since Parabola lies outside the regulation of the Judgements, time and space can be quite mutable. This can lead to paradoxes like Huntsmen being promoted to Huntsmen on Wednesdays, despite always being Huntsmen. "They summoned me to confirm me as their Huntsman. In fact, I have always been their Huntsman. History in Parabola is mutable. When I complete my plan, I’ll always have been something quite different." Natives of Parabola are considered foreign, even illegal, by the Judgements, making them unable to leave for the real world. There have been cases of Parabolan entities contacting and parlaying with the Judgements, but such cases are the exception rather than the rule. The rulers of Parabola are the Fingerkings, which are snakes that lack a physical form outside of Parabola. They only wish to leave the mirrors, and, well, exist. To do this, they steal the skins of humans.Order Serpentine Unfortunately for them, many of these skin-thieves in flesh-suits have been captured and imprisoned in the third coil of the Labyrinth of Tigers. "Get me out of here. I don't belong here. I'm only here because they think I'm possessed." The Devils of Hell once served the Judgements directly as servants. Following their failed rebellion, they exiled themselves to Parabola via Caduceus. Another faction currently residing in Parabola are the Rosers of the Fourth City. These individuals expedited the fall of the Fourth City, and sought refuge in Arbor, which historically accepted refugees from many of the Fallen Cities. The Attendants ''"This is Parabola. We found it in dreams and brought light to it. The ushabti were built to construct a new home for the Second City, where we could live forever beneath the skin of the sun. The night was the bringer of dreams and thus sacred to us. But this Palace was never completed." The sisters of the Duchess decided to flee to Parabola to evade the whims of the Bazaar. "The Palace of the Rising was to be a refuge from the Masters and the Bazaar" There, they created a false sun made of cosmogone, "A new sun was raised in the sky so the citizens might walk in light again." as they knew the could not abide the true Sun any longer. "They could no longer abide the true sun, but they walked here in dreams;" Using constructs called ushabti, the sisters attempted to create a new home for the citizens of the Second, called the Palace of the Rising. "The ushabti were created to help in the construction of the Palace." Things did not go as planned, however, so the Palace was left unfinished and ruined. "This Palace was to be a refuge from the Bazaar ... But time was not on their side. This place was never used." The Obstinate Adoratrice still remains in the Palace of the Rising, though she lacks the knowledge to complete it. "The Adoratrice chose to shelter here, to continue the work ... She wants to see the palace finished, but only has a fraction of the knowledge of its palace's design" Before the sisters built their sun, Parabola was apparently quite dark. "This is a place that is not. It was not always light, though once it was brighter." Given the failure of the project, it seems likely that the Skin of the Sun will eventually fail. "The sun here is failing, and alone I cannot reverse the decay." References :Special thanks to waltzingOphidian for assistance with research and citations Category:Places Category:Other Places Category:Cited